How reliable has your DSM been?

[Boost92awd]

Atleast get a 14b if your going to replace the turbo.

 

[TunaTalon]

All of the rubber pieces on your car are over ten years old and not to be trusted. Except for the timing belts and crank pulley most of the rubber pieces are cheap to buy and easy to replace.

RRE sells a "Larson hose Kit" with silicone tubes to replace all of the olde vacuum lines. For no extra cost you can get a little under hood bling.

The radiator and heater hoses are probably old and cracking, but easy to get to.

Replacing the rubber brake lines at each wheel with stainless lines will give a better brake feel and a warm fuzzy feeling when thinking about how much pressure the old hoses can hold.

I replaced the fluid in the transfer case and rear differential at about 120K.

While you are replacing the timing belts it would be a good time to replace the crank pulley. They are notorious for failing. Just count the threads on this site about squealing belts.

For a daily driver in cold weather ignore all of the tire posts on this site and get a good set of all season tires with a M/S stamp.

Enjoy.

 

[voodoogsx]

Atleast get a 14b if your going to replace the turbo.

A t28 would be a direct bolt on l. t25's can be found for pretty cheap.

 

[DougR]

You want reliability? Fix the Problems at hand. Dont swap around parts.
your gass milage is excellent! Dont aggrivate it by swapping turbos, etc...

Just maintenace the thing, and drive it.
You start swapping parts with no tuner, and that gas milage will quickly dissapear!
Now Im not saying that you Cannot swap to better performing parts and not get Excellent gas (thousands of ppl do it, but at what cost?).
Im just saying at this point. Maintenace and drive it is the best bet for a DD. Unless you got Alot of time and cash laying around.

Just noticed its a 95. check for a Eprom ECU. If its got one. Buy DSM link and start tuning for even better gass. Dont fix whats not broken!~
DougR

 

[Boostdclips99]

Could not agree with that anymore. Other than your regular maintenance problems (especially being 100K+ miles) you shouldn't run into any problems using it as a daily driver. If things are not broken then don't fix them. A good idea to do if you want to add assurance is go ahead and replace timing belt and water pump and you should have a nice daily driver

 

[voodoogsx]

You want reliability? Fix the Problems at hand. Dont swap around parts.
your gass milage is excellent! Dont aggrivate it by swapping turbos, etc...

Just maintenace the thing, and drive it.
You start swapping parts with no tuner, and that gas milage will quickly dissapear!
Now Im not saying that you Cannot swap to better performing parts and not get Excellent gas (thousands of ppl do it, but at what cost?).
Im just saying at this point. Maintenace and drive it is the best bet for a DD. Unless you got Alot of time and cash laying around.

Just noticed its a 95. check for a Eprom ECU. If its got one. Buy DSM link and start tuning for even better gass. Dont fix whats not broken!~
DougR

Ya might want to check it to make sure it doesn't have any leaky caps. Thats some good preventative maintenance there! When I got dsmlink they also changed some of the caps as they had started to leak. If you don't want link, do a search either here or on google as there are people that will swap out the caps at a reasonable price and are familiar with our ecu.

 

[ranger2339]

Ok dumb question time!

How do I know its a Eprom ECU?

Thanks for the help guys.

Josh

 

[Siwel]

Ok dumb question time!

How do I know its a Eprom ECU?

Thanks for the help guys.

Josh

Well, first, the only 2G DSMs with EPROM ECUs from the factory are the '95 models.
To check for an EPROM inside your 2G ECU, pull the ECU out and check the sticker on top. The sticker should have a part number on it (e.g., MD309947) with some other numbers and a letter in the lower right hand corner. The image below shows this sticker.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Curtosy of dsmlink.

 

[meliketoball]

Use common sense to make it reliable. That's all.

 

[ranger2339]

So what can I do with an EPROM ECU? do you tune it with DSM link?

Ya common sense mmm thanks, ill try to find a spot for the common sense mod.

Josh

 

[Dsm2nr89]

My dsm is still under 100k miles But yes like everyone else says, maintnenace first. IMO i say replace the following :
- valve cover gasket set
- pcv valve
- thermostat
- fuel filter
- spark plugs
- spark plug wires
- open filter kit ?

Also replace any belts if they are starting to show wear and make sure you have no leaks. It's what i did to mine and i can drive my car reliably.

 

[voodoogsx]

My dsm is still under 100k miles But yes like everyone else says, maintnenace first. IMO i say replace the following :
- valve cover gasket set
- pcv valve
- thermostat
- fuel filter
- spark plugs
- spark plug wires
- open filter kit ?

Also replace any belts if they are starting to show wear and make sure you have no leaks. It's what i did to mine and i can drive my car reliably.

Have you checked the vin on carfax yet?r. I guess it would seem to make sense to check this as it usually shows you what recalls have been done. It would be particularly good to know if the transfer case seal has been done.

Along with the above you could also do a full fluid change, Trans, transfer case, rear diff, brake fluid, clutch fluid and the standard oil and coolant.

If you want to see how things are gong with your engine without tearing it apart, you could send an oil sample to these guys(get the kit before doing an oil change though). I'm sure it's not fullproof, but it'll give you an idea.

Blackstone Laboratories
it's 23 bux for the test on the oil.

 

[GSX4BangR]

Yea basically jus do all of the above and while your at it change the o2 sensor and make sure you make a good schedule for oil changes. But you can also get a diagnostic done and find out what else is wrong so you can fix everything at once like i did before

 

[Polyol]

With the mods I have with 129,000 mi., My car is very reliable. I was even running 20# of boost for a while. But found it to be useless with all the tire spin as for i'm only FWD. now set at 15#

 

[GSX4BangR]

Oh yeah it might be a good idea to replace the timing belt while your at it Better to be safe then sorry.

 

[DougR]

Yes, Josh DSMlink is used to tune the car.

Among Tuning for Gas milage. You will also beable to squeek out alil more power. Not by Performance tuning, but as a side effect, of the Reliability Tune.

DSMlink is hands down the Easyest Tuner to use for a beginner. Its simple and straight forward. And trust me on this, Once you start posting Log files of your Tunes, Everyone will be your friend!
The guys here at DSMtuners Love digging trough log files!

You will need a laptop to make the best of it tho.. or a Really long USB cable, unless you drag your PC into the garage. IMO Every mechanic should have a PC in his or her garage anyways.

Take a Look, You will see its a nice Program. Made explicitly for DSM's
DSMLink Homepage

Good Luck!



DougR

 

[eclipsegsx1989]

okay well these cars have alot of problems with them .. i have a 95 gsx awd turbo .. i bought it in august of 07 and i only driving it for about 3 months out of the 8 months i have had it .. the first problem i had with it was it had bent 12 valves .. i got the valves replace ,everything was running good unilt i was driving in a neighborhood going like 10 mph and my asxle completly snapped in half .. so i got that fixed .. after that i started getting a knocking in engine .. found out it was rod knock .. i just ended up getting a whole new block .. .xz

okay well these cars have alot of problems with them .. i have a 95 gsx awd turbo .. i bought it in august of 07 and i only driving it for about 3 months out of the 8 months i have had it .. the first problem i had with it was it had bent 12 valves .. i got the valves replace ,everything was running good unilt i was driving in a neighborhood going like 10 mph and my asxle completly snapped in half .. so i got that fixed .. after that i started getting a knocking in engine .. found out it was rod knock .. i just ended up getting a whole new block .. .xz

okay well these cars have alot of problems with them .. i have a 95 gsx awd turbo .. i bought it in august of 07 and i only driving it for about 3 months out of the 8 months i have had it .. the first problem i had with it was it had bent 12 valves .. i got the valves replace ,everything was running good unilt i was driving in a neighborhood going like 10 mph and my asxle completly snapped in half .. so i got that fixed .. after that i started getting a knocking in engine .. found out it was rod knock .. i just ended up getting a whole new block .. .xz

[This from a person who can't master simple site posting.]

 

[Macster]

i own a 95 tsi awd with 132k miles so far ive had to change 3 wheel bearings and i ahd to change a clutch with only 6k because the mechanic didint read the torque specs. apart from that its been a really solid car. and i havent gotten it stuck yet this winter.

 

[Aftershock13]

A car is only as reliable as the owners ability to keep it reliable. I know people that have Honda and Toyota's and they hate them cause they are not reliable. Then again, they don't even do routine maintence on the car so it falls apart.

x2, preventive maintenance is key, I'd found out what the factory recommends as far as that's concerned. I write them in on my calander each year as a reminder. It's saved me a lot of trouble . . . . . . . . . . I have my dad to thank for the calander thing, he's always owned his own shop and he gets mad at me for bringing my car in 100 miles over the oil change sticker!!

 

[SwitchSkier]

Ha, ask my parents this question and they'll give it a -5. Haha. My car is actually reliable when it's running, but I'm always in the garage working on it. They think it's the dumbest purchase I've ever made haha. My dad always tries to convince me to sell it and get something different. He even says he'd help pay for something nice if it was out of my price range, but he can never take me from my DSM!

But I'd much rather have something that I do need/want to work on all the time. It gives me more a feel of accomplishment when I'm driving it. I bought, with my money, a riced out crap-mobile and made it driveable. Not just going to the dealership and getting a nice new reliable car for $15,000 and leaving it as is like the general public does. For me, I don't look at reliability like an average car shopper does. I'm a teenager and want to work on my car. Once I'm older and not into all this stuff, I'll care more about how long the car can run without being touched.

 

[twoTSis]

I own two DSMs and have quite a few DSM friends. It seems there are several common issues with DSMs, but the fact is they seem to be personalized with their own problems from car to car.

All in all the potential of these cars and the looks...

Well worth my time spent in my garage.

 

[oakleyguy89]

My car has 82k miles on it. Im going to take it to get its oil changed, oil filter, top off on all of my fluids, both belts changed, air filter, and spark plugs changed for this paycheck. I was wondering if my car will be reliable for a long time if I keep this maintanence up, because I bought it from a used car dealer and I am kinda worried if this will break down since its my only car. I am such a worry wart, but I guess thats kind of a good thing?

 

[d3str0y3r]

that depends on a lot of things..

what year is it?
N/A or turbo?
stock or modified?
AWD or FWD?

if it's mostly stock, you shouldnt have problems, even if its a 2nd gen.. just dont beat the hell out of it every time you drive it haha

 

[oakleyguy89]

Its a stock 1998 Spyder GS with the 2.4L. Only has a can in the back, FWD. No weird noises coming from it other than the belt and no oil leaks.

 

[d3str0y3r]

i wouldnt worry too much... i have quite a bit done to my car, and as long as i keep up with maintenance nothing really goes wrong.. i drove it down to oklahoma and back (from wisconsin) and nothing went wrong..